Coriolanus

Here we go! Straight on into Coriolanus. Now, I've seen three productions of Coriolanus, but this is the first time I've sat down and read it, so if I've made any horrendous misrepresentations, do let me know in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter!

Menenius is great. He walks into this horde of rioting plebeians and decides the best thing to do is to tell them a story of an anthropomorphic belly. This particular scene has the immortal line "Your most grave belly was deliberate", which is literary gold, if you ask me. Menenius: the only character in Shakespeare who can get away with saying "belly" on stage, over and over again.

Caius Martius pretty quickly establishes his credentials as an enemy of the people, given that his first major speech is all "you lousy commoners, you smell funny, you're cowardly, you're stupid, you're fickle, you're ungrateful and I wouldn't trust any of you father than I could throw you." So at this point we know he's going to have an absolutely smashing political career.

Tune in tomorrow, when we will meet Tullus Aufidius, the enemy general with whom Martius is totally smitten.